Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák has expressed his disappointment that not
one of Slovakia’s 13 MEPs attended a meeting of the European Parliament’s
committee on petitions dedicated to the so-called Beneš Decrees (issued by the
then president of Czechoslovakia Edvard Beneš after the end of World War II).
“I'm very disappointed at how our MEPs approached the issue, regardless of
which political party they are from,” Lajčák said, as quoted by the SITA
newswire on Wednesday, October 3. “For me, it raises the question of whether
they realise whom they represent in the European Parliament,” he added, adding
that the only person to speak in Slovakia’s defence at the committee meeting was
a Romanian MEP.
The EP committee discussed the Beneš Decrees on September 20. Slovakia is not
represented on the committee, but Slovak MEPs were able to take part. As they
chose to stay away, a report from the committee meeting noted that “Slovak MEPs
did not take part in the discussion”. The EP is discussing the topic at the
initiative of Hungarian MEPs. Slovakia is being asked to explain the
circumstances under which its parliament adopted a declaration in 2007 on the
irrevocability of the Beneš Decrees. The 2007 resolution declared the Beneš
Decrees – which after World War II limited the civil and property rights of the
Hungarian and German minorities in Czechoslovakia – inviolable. It was adopted
with the support of all members of the ruling coalition and the opposition, with
the exception of the Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK). In it, the Slovak
Parliament rejected all attempts to dispute the post-war decrees and declared
inviolable the legal and ownership relationships stemming from them.
The Beneš Decrees cannot be changed and Slovakia and Hungary should focus on
their economic problems instead, Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview
for Hungarian TV channel Duna following a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart
Viktor Orban in Pilisszentkereszt (known in Slovak as Mlynky), Hungary, on
Tuesday, October 2. According to Fico, Slovakia maintains that the controversial
decrees are not legally changeable and that historians and mixed specialist
committees should instead be in charge of dealing with the documents. "For me
it's more crucial to tackle economic questions that affect people's lives," Fico
said. With regard to issues related to Slovak-Hungarian co-operation, bilateral
relations and the situation of ethnic Slovaks in Hungary and the Hungarian
minority in Slovakia, Fico said that the two countries have been leading a
constructive dialogue. As for ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia, Fico said that
Slovakia respects and honours the rights of that community. He added that, for
example, the Hungarian language can be used – unofficially – even in those towns
where the 20-percent population threshold needed for a foreign language to be
officially spoken under the law is not achieved.
